Lomahaftewa Awarded Honorary Doctorate Of Humanities

Hopi tribal member Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi/Choctaw) was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This prestigious degree was presented to Lomahaftewa during the IAIA Commencement Ceremony for the Graduating Class of 2017 on Saturday, May 13.

IAIA President Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee) stated, “Linda Lomahaftewa is being honored for her accomplishments as an artist and her lasting contributions to the Institute of American Indian Arts for the past 41 years. Lomahaftewa’s mark on the field of American and Native American Art is one achieved by very few women artists. This honorary doctorate recognizes her contributions to the field of Native Art and her role in the education of generations of artists who have passed through IAIA under her guidance.”

Lomahaftewa attended the Institute of American Indian Arts when it first opened in 1962 and earned her high school diploma in 1965. Upon receiving a full scholarship to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, she earned her BFA and MFA in painting in 1969 and 1971.

She began teaching as an Assistant Professor of Native American Art at California State College, Sonoma, CA and later as Professor of Painting, Drawing, and Native American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1971-1976. It was through an invitation from her alma mater that she returned to IAIA in 1976 to teach painting, drawing and two-dimensional arts as Assistant Professor of Studio Arts.

In addition to teaching and raising her family, Lomahaftewa continued producing art. She has been featured in important publications about Native art, including: Women of Sweetgrass, Cedar, and Sage: Native American Women in Art, Shared Visions: Native American Painters and Sculptors of the Twentieth Century, and Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism.

Her art work is collected in private and public institutions throughout the United States and abroad including: the Heard Museum; Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art; IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native American Art; and the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

Throughout her career, Lomahaftewa has been actively involved in the national and local arts communities. She has served on boards such as the Native American Arts Studies Association (NAASA), the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), City of Santa Fe Arts Council, and the Hopi Education Endowment Fund.

Lomahaftewa was extremely honored to be recognized by IAIA.